First published in 1862 to a mixed reception, Victor Hugo’s massive Les Misérables – a rousing example of the expansive Victorian novels Henry James dubbed “large loose baggy monsters” – has enjoyed a continuing popular success and been filmed several dozen times since 1897. Always known by its original French title, the book appears high on lists of the 10 longest novels but never on the 10 best, and the most famous judgment on Hugo is that of André Gide. Asked who was the greatest of all French poets, he replied: “Victor Hugo, hélas!”

Les Misérables is an uplifting, heartbreaking, sentimental 1,500-page assault on oppression, exploitation and cruelty in which the ex-convict Jean Valjean, the Christ-like victim eternally seeking redemption, is pursued from Toulon to Paris by the implacable upholder of the law, Inspector Javert. It’s a seminal thriller, set between the year of Waterloo and the failed revolution of 1832, and the incident-packed narrative is interrupted by essays on history, architecture, Parisian sewers, religion.

Moviegoers may have favourite interpreters of Valjean and Javert, but by general agreement the best screen version is this handsomely restored, nearly five-hour 1934 adaptation by Raymond Bernard, who’d made his name in the silent area with spectacular costume films. Remaining close to the story, he removed the digressions, reduced the dialogue to a minimum, used posters, letters and newspapers to convey information, and shot it to be shown in three self-contained parts: A Storm Beneath the Skull, Les Thénardier and Liberty, Dear Liberty. The film’s visual style is influenced early on by Courbet, in the scenes at the Paris barricades by Delacroix, and frequently by cinematic expressionism, especially in the use of tilted cameras to give a feeling of unease. The subtle music is by Arthur Honegger, and the co-cinematographer is Jules Kruger, whose credits include Gance’s Napoléon.

The great Harry Baur brings a formidable presence to Valjean, managing superbly the transformation from grizzled old lag to kindly imposing haut-bourgeois businessman, and Charles Vanel, whose career lasted more than 70 years, found a moving vein of misplaced probity in the remorseless Javert. This pair inevitably tower over the film, and the major female roles – Fantine, the seduced and abandoned heroine, and her exploited daughter Cosette – are conventional figures, as is the aristocratic revolutionary hero Marius (played by Jean Servais, later to become a star character actor in such films as Dassin’s Rififi).